Freight-car door.



W. H. SUTER.

l FREIGHT GAR DOOR. A-11 1 LI0AT10N FILED 11141.24, 1912.

l Patented June 10, 1913.v

2 SHEETS-,SHEET 1.`

W. H. SUTBR.

FREIGHT GAR DOOR. APPLICATION FILED APE. 24j 1912.

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WILLIAM SUTER, F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

FREIGHT-cnn noon. l

Application filed April 24, 1912. A Serial No. 692,966.

Specification of Letters Patent.

I ratenteaaune 10,1913.

To all lwhom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, WILLIAM I-IZ Soran, a citizen of the United States, reslding at the city of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement 1n Freight-Car Doors, of whichthe following 4is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this application.

My invention relates to an improvement i in ,l door fixtures, a'nd particularly to sliding doors as used on freight cars; the object being to provide a door which may easily and quickly be opened, which'may readily be'held or locked,- in any position,

and which will tightly close the door-opening when locked in its closed position. Also one which cannot be operated from within the car and which, therefore, lwill not allow the car to be a ready hiding place for tramps.

I' attain these objects by the novel construction shown in the accompanying drawings, inwhich- Figure 1 is an elevation of a part of the car with the door closed; Fig. 2 shows a section of the' same along the line 2 2; Fig. 3 shows a section throughFg. 1 along the line 3 3, looking upward. Fig. 4 shows an.

end view of the door. Fig. 5 shows an enlarged view of one of the locking dogs. Fig. 6 shows an enlarged view of one of the wheels on the door-hangers. Fig. 7 shows an enlarged view of the catch which locks the operating lever.

In the drawings, A is a car.

B is a door hung from hangers C having rollers or wheels D, traveling on a track E, which track is preferably of steel with-a rounded upper edge.

F is a lever fastened to a rocking shaft G mounted in bearings H H fastened to the door B. Each end of this shaft carries bevel gears I engaging gears J on vertical shafts K supported in bearings L at opposite sides of the door. Each of the vertical shafts K has dogs or curved arms M fastened to it, preferably at its upper and lower ends.

N N are springs fastened at opposite ends to the horizontal shaft G .and the bearings H, which springs tend to force the lever F into a vertical position. In doing so, they also move the gears I andJ, thereby causing the arms M to turn Ain the direction shown by the arrow in Fig. 5.

O Oare friction strips fastened tothe sideof the car opposite the arms M, these strips having lelongated openings T adjacent'to each side of the'door.

P is a guard rail positioned to keep the" lower end of the door from' swingingAtoo far away from the car.

yQ, is a catch fastened t'othe door and engaging the lower end of the levei` F when the latter.` is in a vertical position, this catch having a perforation'R through which a seal or the hasp of a lock may be passed.

When the door is in its yclosed position, the dogs or curved arms M enter-the open-y ings N in the steelfriction strips, these-dogs preferably having enlarged 'knobs M at their tips to give them a better engagement with the inner edge-of, the friction strips.

In so doing, they draw the door towardthese strips as shown by dotted lines in,

Fig. 5,'thereby tightly closing the door.

' When the lever F is raised,- it actuates the geared shafts to withdraw the dogs from the openings N, thereby leaving the door free to move outwardpr away from the side of the'car. When thus actuated, one edge of the knob M impinges against the sloping outer edge N .of the openin in the friction strip, (as shown in dotted Iines in Fig. 3) thereby forcing the door outward, which it is free to do owing to the length vof the wheel D. The wheels D are preferably made with a conical portion D adjoining the inner flange D2., so that the slope 'of the wheel will aid the door in easily sliding away from the car. When thus moved outward, the door can freely be slid back and forth along the track which supports it, as long as the lever -F is held at an angle to the vertical. On releasing the lever F, both its .weight and the ,springs N force it back to its normal vertical position, thereby actuating-the dogs M. When thus4 actuated while the door is in an o'pened position, the dogs engage the surface of the friction strips O, thereby forcing the door outward until the flanges D impinge on the inner edge of the' track E, while the lower edge of the door impinges upon the guard rail P. In this position, the friction of the door against the guard railis so great that the door cannot be moved without first raising the lever F, hence the door cannot be closed by anyone inside the car. The door is therefore trampproof. Moreover, the combined action of the outward thrust by the dogs and of the conical rollers forces the door at once to a position clear of the car when the lever F is raised, whereby a single man is able easily and speedily to open or close the door. i 'The cylindrical portion of the rollers is preferably r'nade wider than the thickness of the track, thereby allowing the roller to be slid' transversely of the track when the door is closed, so as to insure a tight closing of the door.

I am aware that car doors have heretofore been used with a series of brackets adapted to engage the lower edge ot' the door when the latter is swung outwardly. Such brackets are apt to dent the wood of the door when the latter is swung forcibly a ainst the same (as when swaying in a high wind) and the dents will then catch on the brackets and interfere with the easy sliding of "the door. I therefore have substituted forsueh separated brackets a smooth Guide-rail extending along the car and long nough so that the whole width of the door vmay impinge on this rail when the door is in any position.

I am also aware that car doors have heretofore been hung from conical rollers which rollers were lifted entirely off the track when the door was closed tightly. Such a construction requires the .men operating the door to raise the entire weight of the door and also puts the stra-in of this weight. upon the devices which draw the door 'against the car.V I avoid these strains upon both men and fastening devices by leaving the rollers continuously upon the track to support the weightof the door at all times.

Wvhile I have illustrated and described -my invention in its preferred embodiment,

I do not wish to be'limited to the exact arrangement of the parts as shown, it being obvious that numerous modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention. l desire to cover by Letters Patent is:

l. A door fixture including a track; a sliding door suspended from a plurality of rollers bearing upon the track; a guard-rail against which the lower portion of the door may impiuge when the door tion of its travel; and spring-actuated mechanism for moving the door transversely to the plane. ot its face; the said mechanism serving to' drawA the door tightly against the car when lthe track and simultaneously swinging sliding door suspended from aplurality of What I claim as new andY is in any posithe door is in the closing po-y sition,v and tol swing the door outward againstthe guard-rail when the door is in any other position.

2. A car door fixture including a track;

l a sliding door suspended from a plurality of rollers bearing upon the track; and mechanism for moving the door transversely of stantiallyv cylindrical ortion eater in length than the face o the trac and an adjoining vportion tapering to a smaller diameter at the end nearest 'the car body; the tapering part aiding `to slide thedoor away from the car when the door is moved to an open position, and the cylindrical portion permitting the door to be drawn horizontally against the car when the door-is in itsclosing position; and a guard rail against which the lower part of the door may impinge if swung `outwardly while the rollers are slid transversely of the track away from the car body; and mechanism for sliding the supporting rollers of the door outwardly uptliln t e rail. car door fixture including a track; a

lower part ofthe door against the guar rollers bearing upon the track; and mechanism for moving the door transversely of the track; each of the rollers having a substantially cylindrical portion greater in length than the face of the track and .an adjoining portion tapering' to a smaller d iameter at the end nearest the car body; tapering part aiding to slide the door` away from the car when the door is moved to an open position, and the cylindricalv portion permitting the doorto be drawn hori-l zontally against the car -when the door is in its closing position; a guard rail against which the lower part of the doorlnay impinge if swung outwardly while the rollers 100 are slid transversely of the track away from the car body; and mechanism for sliding the supporting rollers outwardly from the car and simultaneously swinging the lower end v of the door `outwardly when the l in its closing position; the said mechanism serving to draw the supporting rollers toward the car and simultaneously to swing the door tightly against the car when the mechanism is actuated while the door is in 110 its closing position.

y WILLIAM H. SUTER.

lVitnesses ALBERT SoHEnsLn, M. A. SMITH, Jr.

the track; each of the rollers having a subzio the l door is not 105 

